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[quote=Anonymous]DCUMs, I need your help solving this medical mystery.

My 4.5 year old son, a happy and healthy little guy, has been complaining about intermittent stomach pain since last Thursday.  He will be happy and immersed in a project and then, boom! All of a sudden he's desperately sobbing that his stomach hurts.  It lasts about 5-10 minutes or so and then it's gone.  It's not constipation - he's pooping as usual - and it doesn't seem like he's extra gassy or anything.  He cannot express what it feels like or what hurts, other than to say it hurts around his belly button.  Once it's over, he is right back to normal and back to his usual tricks.  His appetite and thirst levels are the same as usual.

Compounding this mystery and further confusing the issue, he is also all of a sudden obsessed with dying.  Completely obsessed.  So every time his stomach hurts he goes into a tailspin of "Am I dying? What if I die? Is this making me die?"  It is heartbreaking.  I suspect that he had some minor stomach cramp a few days ago and then someone along the way (at school, most likely) said something to him about dying and now he has the ideas all intertwined in his head.

I tend to think he might be exaggerating the stomach pain or even faking it (last night he got oout of bed 2x to complain that it hurt, but he also burst into sneaky giggles when I said I wasn't sure if I believe him.)  But on the other hand, it's been several days and this is very out of character.  I will happily take him to the ped, but I'm wondering if this is some sort of devlopmental stage or something that anyone can explain before we schlep all the way to the dr.

Thanks in adavce for your help![/quote]

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